Birdwatcher’s Diary No.66

Published on: 20 Jul, 2014
Updated on: 20 Jul, 2014

By Malcolm Fincham

Some pleasant days of sunshine during the first weeks of July gave me some great opportunities of getting out with my camera in and around Guildford to some areas I don’t often get the chance to visit.

It also brought some rather pleasing results in respect of wildlife sightings and photographs.

Looking south from Pewley Down on a pleasant evening.

The first of my outings was a cycle ride across town with some of the lighter of my camera gear up on to Pewley Down. This is an area I had not been to since last summer when I reported on the brief visit there of a red-backed shrike.  

Since promising myself then to revisit I was glad to have finally done so. The views certainly made the cycle ride worth while. And while gazing to the horizon I knew that anything else I was to see would be a bonus.

Fortunately, for this part of the report’s sake, I did manage to add a few sightings and pictures while there. Having become quite interested in the many species of butterfly we have in Surrey there were plenty to be seen on the sloping grassland.

Meadow brown.

The majority being meadow browns with marbled whites coming a close second.

Marbled white.

Being quite a novice to the world of  lepidoptery, the third was a little more difficult for me to identify. With several types of blue butterfly found in the UK I’ve guessed this one to be a common blue.

Common blue.

Yellowhammer on Pewley Down.

A rather pleasing sound of a skylark could be heard along with a distant sound of a yellowhammer. On following the second sound I managed to pick it out and get a record shot of it as it sat perched high in a tree.

Green woodpecker.

Another photo I was rather pleased to get that evening was that of a green woodpecker – or yaffle as they were once called due to their laugh-like call.

Green woodpecker pokes out its long sticky tongue to catch an insect.

As I watched closely I realised it was feeding on insects on the tree bark using its long sticky tongue – a sight I’ve not often seen.

Adult tern bringing back a constant supply of small fish for its young.

I have also been keeping an eye on the welfare and progress of the common terns with their three chicks at Stoke Lake.

Common tern chick makes its first trip out of its meshed home.

On July 3 it was with some amusement as I noticed one of the young terns had managed to flap its wings enough to make it out from the mesh fencing around the raft that helps to protect the birds from predators.

common tern chick realises its parent can’t reach it to offer food.

Unfortunately, it had scored an own goal, as when the adult returned with a small fish it was unable to feed it, and so fed it to one of the two inside the meshing instead.

The young tern soon learned its mistake and returned to the confines of the raft having also taken a soaking by falling into the water trying to grab the food!

Great crested grebe with one of its young.

Also out on the lake were both juvenile great crested grebes, who continue to be attended individually by their parents.

Swift feeding on insects over Stoke Lake.

A few swifts glided gracefully over the water.

A flash of blue as a kingfisher skims over the water.

Every now and again there would be a flash of halcyon blue as a kingfisher would dash low across the water, often disturbed unwittingly by a dog walker throwing in a stick or ball to be retrieved from the lake.

Gold-ringed dragonfly.

Even a gold-ringed dragonfly allowed me a photo opportunity.

Eight of the origional nine cygnets still surviving.

Eight of the origional nine cygnets still surviving.

Heading home I came across eight cygnets still guided by one of their parents and now much larger than when I first saw and reported on them on May 10. Although now one less than then, still a good achievement to my reckoning.

The weekend of July 13-14 included a few trips out with Dougal – far more knowledgeable than I on identifying species of butterfly and where to find them.

A view from Ranmore Common looking towards Dorking.

One such trip was to Ranmore Common near Dorking and a place known as Denbies Hillside – an area of land owned by the National Trust. Click here for details.

With plenty of warmth and sunshine, the day certainly turned out to be a productive one with a nice selection of butterfly as well as other wildlife.

Essex skipper.

With some help I was able to distinguish the differences between large skipper and an Essex skipper.

Large skipper.

Male and female chalk hill blues.

Gatekeeper on Denbies Hillside.

Chalk hill blues could also now be viewed now gracing the countryside and also as gatekeepers, similar looking to the meadow brown but more colourful and with two white dots within the black dot on their wings.

Ravens overhead.

Overhead we were alerted to two ravens as they flew by making their infamous gronking sounds.

Slow worm.

While in a quiet sunny area both slow worms and an adder had been attracted out by the heat of the day.

An adder basks in the warm afternoon sunshine at Ranmore.

Roman snail.

Also on our walk, at an undisclosed location nearby, we managed to come across a Roman snail – a protected species with great concern of their demise due to illegal poaching. Click to read more.

A trip out to Bookham Common was on the itinerary for  the following day to an area renown for seein purple emperor butterflies Although not such good views as the one’s shown in my previous report, our intentions were actually to see another type of purple butterfly, just as difficult to spot.

Silver-washed fritillary on Bookham Common.

Having walked past the ‘master tree’ for the purple emperors and viewing several high up among the oak leaves we came to a small opening where a number of species of butterfly such as white admiral, and silver-washed fritillary could be seen.

Purple hairstreak on Bookham Common.

Having spent a while looking up among the various deciduous trees we finally saw what we had been looking for – a purple hairstreak butterfly. Click here for more details.

Later that evening I was back down at Stoke Lake to check on the progress of the juvenile common terns.

All three of the young terns are now able to fly.

All three could  be seen now actively flying around the lake and even making attempts to fish.

Click to watch short clip on progress of juvenile common terns.

While taking a few pictures as they flew by, in the corner of my eye I was alerted to something flying up into the lower part of the sallows not far away to my left.

Kingfisher: judging by its dull coloured legs and white tip on it’s beak I’m guessing it to be a juvenile.

To my surprise I realised it was the kingfisher I had seen several times that evening and on many occasions during the last few weeks as it flew up and down just above the surface of the lake.

Kingfisher.

On close inspection I guessed it is one from this year’s brood. Click here for more details.

To have it perch so close was a real bonus and to get a few pictures as it did so was certainly a perfect end to the week.

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